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Notably, it appears the plan might be for April to bring his fellow defensive front seven assistants, inside linebackers coach Mark D'Onofrio and defensive line coach Ross Kolodziej, with him to Stanford. D'Onofrio has only coached with Leonhard and April for one year after a three year absence from coaching and many years as a defensive coordinator at Temple, Miami, and Houston. Looking at the arcs of D'Onofrio's defenses at each of those three schools, he was very modestly successful at Temple, unsuccessful at Miami, and unsuccessful at Houston. The way I'd think about D'Onofrio is a failed coordinator who can nonetheless provide April with some perspective from years of major college football play calling, and the two have a year of successful experience navigating the seams and gaps between outside and inside linebackers. Kolodziej led Badger strength and conditioning for six years between 2015-2020 before serving as the DL coach the last two years. The performance of the defense, especially in run defense, the last two years suggests that Chryst and Leonhard didn't err in making Kolodziej DL coach. Certainly he's been integral to the program spanning Aranda, Wilcox, and Leonhard successes. In my view, the theory of the case for the Stanford defense under April would be much stronger with Kolodziej and D'Onofrio than it would be if he is forced to retain Stanford assistants or search elsewhere for new partners. Big arrow up for me if these three come together. They have proven synergy as defensive coaches and, as a bonus, synergy with one another in integrating strength and conditioning with defensive coaching: in addition to Kolodziej's obvious strength and conditioning expertise, D'Onofrio's time at Houston overlapped with new Stanford honcho Ryan Deatrick.

The biggest unknown for me with regard to April as DC is the defensive secondary coaching. I remain convinced we need two defensive secondary coaches, as Leonhard operated at Wisconsin and as Taylor operated at Sacramento State. I do not know anything about the coaching Taylor and April plan to bring on for the secondary. Big unknown for me. Hopefully we can nail down the rest of the staff soon and the synergies are as good as my optimistic read so far.

Wisconsin played a slow tempo run oriented offense. Ball control.  Which obviously helps the defense. Also, I think a defense plays the run better when it practices against a run oriented offense (and usually with a very good o-line ).  Complimentary football. Running well and stopping the run were the constants during their great run.  And the inability to run or stop the run was at the forefront of the collapse.

I don’t  know how up tempo Taylor will play.  Defensive depth will be very important.  Kind of a “duh”, I know.    But I think it’s even more imperative with an up tempo style team.

It's the main reason that I don't like the hire of Taylor. I would have been quite pleased if Stanford had hired Chryst as HC and April as DC. 

Stanford is going to continue to trend offensively to look like most of the other teams in the conference, as they have since 2019. When Stanford was winning P12 Titles they did not look like anyone else. That was one of the main reasons they were so successful. 

Simply put, this program does not get the talent to play uptempo football, offensively or defensively.

Couldn't agree more that practicing against a power run game scheme makes the defense better at stopping the run. The combination of the two also makes a football team tougher and tougher, which Stanford used to be known for during their great run.

[Red80]

Notably, it appears the plan might be for April to bring his fellow defensive front seven assistants, inside linebackers coach Mark D'Onofrio and defensive line coach Ross Kolodziej, with him to Stanford. D'Onofrio has only coached with Leonhard and April for one year after a three year absence from coaching and many years as a defensive coordinator at Temple, Miami, and Houston. Looking at the arcs of D'Onofrio's defenses at each of those three schools, he was very modestly successful at Temple, unsuccessful at Miami, and unsuccessful at Houston. The way I'd think about D'Onofrio is a failed coordinator who can nonetheless provide April with some perspective from years of major college football play calling, and the two have a year of successful experience navigating the seams and gaps between outside and inside linebackers. Kolodziej led Badger strength and conditioning for six years between 2015-2020 before serving as the DL coach the last two years. The performance of the defense, especially in run defense, the last two years suggests that Chryst and Leonhard didn't err in making Kolodziej DL coach. Certainly he's been integral to the program spanning Aranda, Wilcox, and Leonhard successes. In my view, the theory of the case for the Stanford defense under April would be much stronger with Kolodziej and D'Onofrio than it would be if he is forced to retain Stanford assistants or search elsewhere for new partners. Big arrow up for me if these three come together. They have proven synergy as defensive coaches and, as a bonus, synergy with one another in integrating strength and conditioning with defensive coaching: in addition to Kolodziej's obvious strength and conditioning expertise, D'Onofrio's time at Houston overlapped with new Stanford honcho Ryan Deatrick.

The biggest unknown for me with regard to April as DC is the defensive secondary coaching. I remain convinced we need two defensive secondary coaches, as Leonhard operated at Wisconsin and as Taylor operated at Sacramento State. I do not know anything about the coaching Taylor and April plan to bring on for the secondary. Big unknown for me. Hopefully we can nail down the rest of the staff soon and the synergies are as good as my optimistic read so far.

Wisconsin played a slow tempo run oriented offense. Ball control.  Which obviously helps the defense. Also, I think a defense plays the run better when it practices against a run oriented offense (and usually with a very good o-line ).  Complimentary football. Running well and stopping the run were the constants during their great run.  And the inability to run or stop the run was at the forefront of the collapse.

I don’t  know how up tempo Taylor will play.  Defensive depth will be very important.  Kind of a “duh”, I know.    But I think it’s even more imperative with an up tempo style team.

It's the main reason that I don't like the hire of Taylor. I would have been quite pleased if Stanford had hired Chryst as HC and April as DC. 

Stanford is going to continue to trend offensively to look like most of the other teams in the conference, as they have since 2019. When Stanford was winning P12 Titles they did not look like anyone else. That was one of the main reasons they were so successful. 

Simply put, this program does not get the talent to play uptempo football, offensively or defensively.

Couldn't agree more that practicing against a power run game scheme makes the defense better at stopping the run. The combination of the two also makes a football team tougher and tougher, which Stanford used to be known for during their great run.